Side Hustle Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Brief Summary

Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days by Chris Guillebeau is a practical guide for anyone looking to create an additional stream of income without quitting their day job. The book outlines a clear, actionable 27-day plan to help readers brainstorm ideas, refine them, and launch a side hustle. Guillebeau provides real-life examples, step-by-step instructions, and tips to help anyone—regardless of experience—turn their skills or passions into profit. It's a motivational and approachable resource for aspiring entrepreneurs.

About the Author

Chris Guillebeau is an American author, blogger, and speaker best known for his book The Art of Non Conformity and blog. His brand Unconventional guides provides travel and small business topic guides. He is the organizer of the annual World Domination Summit. His blog discusses entrepreneurship, travel, and personal development topics. He graduated from the University of Washington and Athens State University with a degree in International Studies. He lives in Portland with his wife. His second book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, was released in 2012 and reached #6 in its category on The New York Times Bestsellers list. He maintains a blog at Anderson Cooper 360 and has written for The Business Week.

Topics

Entrepreneurship

Side Hustle Book Summary Preview

Sometimes it is hard to be your own boss, and not everyone can thrive and succeed away from their day job. At the same time, if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, but want to keep your primary job, it may be time to try a side hustle.

In Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days, Chris Guillebeau shows readers what it takes to have a successful side business that brings in extra income, while also offering the dos and don’ts for a successful side hustle.

You will learn how to take a hobby that some might consider to be obscure and earn money with it. You’ll learn how to prevent making simple business mistakes with some easy math, and even what the Girl Scouts have to teach us all about business.

Key Points

Side hustles are also a form of job freedom that anyone can achieve

The definition of a side hustle is to have a business venture that is profitable, while also working in conjunction with someone’s paid employment or career. In general, a side hustle is something in which the bare minimum is needed in terms of time and money spent, as well as effort, to bring in extra income.

Having a side hustle means that you have different sources to bring in money. This also helps if you are fired or quit full time because there is still money coming in to pay the bills.

When starting a side hustle, there is no reason to be overwhelmed, as you really should only be starting with an hour per day. Anything over that is likely wasting time and energy. And you don’t need a degree to get a side hustle going.

This is your personal business that you are running, so you don’t answer to anyone else.

With careful consideration and math skills, you can come up with strong ideas that in turn become a solid side hustle

In order to get started figuring out your ideal side hustle, it’s important to determine if your idea has three specific qualities. You must determine if your potential idea is motivating for you if it can be done in a short amount of time, and also if it can actually make you money.

If the answer to those three questions is yes, then you have an idea that is feasible.

In order to determine if your idea can make money, you should be able to describe it to potential customers in two sentences and see if they are interested in your proposal. If your idea is persuasive enough for people to say yes to, then you have something that could in fact make you extra money.

Once you determine whether or not you have an idea that works as a side hustle, it is time to do the math to determine how much money you can make versus how much you need.

Simply put, you should be spending less money on your side hustle than you bring in (otherwise you simply are not making a profit). It is also a good idea...